We
greet each other with this blessed announcement and confirmation. A
greeting to be used during all the forty days that follow, up to the feast
of the Ascension. However, soon, perhaps even a week later, we return to
the conventional ‘good morning,’
‘good afternoon,’ etc. We may even feel embarrassed to repeat it
for as long as forty days or for not being understood by the world’s
people. Nevertheless, today, we are radiant with joy and repeat to one
another, “Christ
is Risen,” and
exchange presents of pies, sweetmeats and coloured eggs: for meet it is
that the earth be glad, and that the whole world keep feast for Christ is
risen.

However,
in the midst of this joy we hear a persuasive call, “let
us purify our senses” (Troparion 1, Ode 1, Canon), and in this I
would like to detain our meditation.

In
the joy of Pascha, are we invited to purification? Yes, we are called to
maintain that spiritual cleanliness achieved with our fast, with our
repentance, with our tears, to behold what had been promised: the light of
the presence of Jesus Christ.

That
Christ, who rose two thousand years ago, remains risen today for us
to behold, for us to love and for us to imitate. From today on let us not
fall again into sin, let us watch the presence of the Lord risen, and let
us be persevering in righteousness, since sinners surely perish at the
presence of God.

With
the persuasive call we get a sure warning in today’s Gospel that says; “He
came to His own, and His own received Him not.” After two thousand
years of Christianity, we
are now“His
own.” We
belong to Him because He bought us with His Blood. To us He comes every
day when we choose to do His Will, that is, when we refuse to practice
sin. Our repentance and the Blood of Jesus Christ have wiped away our
sins. The Resurrection of Christ raises us, through the Holy Mysteries or
Sacraments of the Church, to a condition higher than before the Fall of
Adam. This is the meaning of the words we hear in today’s Gospel
passage: “As many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become sons of God.” To believe and to
accept the words of Jesus means to force our lives to think like Jesus, to
desire like Jesus and, above all, to do the commandments of Jesus. Doing
it, we exercise the power that makes us sons of God.

Let
us remember that:

Through
our Baptism we were buried and risen with Christ;

Through
Chrismation we were branded and made His own;

Through
Holy Communion we are nourished and energized;

Through
Holy Confession we are protected and restored;

Through Holy Marriage the self preservation
of our temporal life is elevated to the harmony of the economy of the
Trinity of God;

Through
the Monastic Schema the angelic life is incorporated into matter;

Through
the Priesthood the Power and Judgement of God is deposited in the hand of
Man;

Through
the Holy Unction we are healed and revitalized for our last steps towards
the Eternal Life.

At
last, our death opens for us the Passover -the Pascha- to the Kingdom of
the One God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.